Welt.



- G. BROLLINS.

WELT.

APPLICATION FILED 12.4, 1904.

Ewenlfi'w 201271755585. 9 0719 oZZ 27145.

#WOL EW.

PATENTED APR. 3, 1906.

. AENT BETTIE.

GEORGE E. ROLLINS, OF EAST BRIDGEWATER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOBROCKTON FOLDING MACHINE COMPANY, A COR- PORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

WELT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 3, 1906.

Application filed April 4, 1904. Serial No. 201,5 86.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. RoLLnvs, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of East Bridgewater, in the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented an Improvement in I/Velts, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specification.

My invention is a welt particularly intended for making Goodyear-sewedboots and shoes, although not confined exclusively thereto.

In making a shoe by the Goodyear method peculiar strains anddifiiculties are encountered with reference to the welt. It has to besewed fast about the lower edge of the upper and then bent, hammered,and forced as nearly as possible flat with the sole which it is toretain but, as is evident, this result is not readily accomplished, asthe leather is awkward to handle, hard to flatten out, tends to recoverits former position, the stitches frequently break or tear out, and, inshort, the problem is full of practical difficulties.

My invention aims to obviate these difficulties. To accomplish this, Iprovide means for permitting the welt not merely to shrink or contracton its inner or sewed edge, but to broaden or expand inwardly widthwisewhen laid down about the toe, while at the same time retaining a firmstrong edge beyond the vamp -stitches, and likewise beyond thesole-stitches, for it is necessary that the welt shall remainstrong andthat its substance shall remain in proper position for receiving andstrongly holding all the stitches. Accordingly I provide cuts or groovesacross one side of the welt-strip, terminating short of the outer edgeof the strip and slanting or overlapping, without, however, severing orweakening the strip widthwise, the result being that the welt can bereadily turned down flat around the toe and yet preserves its originalstitch-holding strength and edge integrity.

My invention will be further explained in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated a preferredembodiment of my improved welt, and in which Figure 1 is a top planthereof. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the welt in its simpler form,and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional View.

The strip may have any general or preferred shape in cross-section,being herein shown as comprising a piece of leather 1, having a verticaledge 2 and a beveled edge 3', adjacent which is a stitch-receivinggroove 4.

In one side of the strip 1 I cut a series of oblique grooves or slashes5that is to say, the cuts are in a plane oblique to the lane of the sideor surface of the strip, there y providing an overlapping wedge-shapedshinglelike fin of leather, having a thin outer lip or edge 6 andintegral with the strip at both of its ends and base. In the form shownin the drawings the lip 6 is crescent-sh aped and the cut extends nearlyor quite through in a curved line 7, so that the cut gets shallow towardthe outer edge 2, and also in some instances I provide grooves 8, fromwhich the leather is removed down to the longitudinal groove 4, as shownin Fig. 1. In the latter case the oblique cuts 5 are not made as closetogether as when there are no grooves 8.

In use after the welt has been first stitched to the shoe-upper throughthe groove 4 and edge 3 in usual manner it is found that instead ofbeing exceedingly difficult to bend or turn it down flat to receive thesole my improved construction enables the welt to assume the desiredposition readily, so that the inner edge 3 contracts or is condensed,and the welt changes widthwise as well as lengthwise, owing to thepeculiar cuts and combination of grooves, and yet it remains strong andfirm to withstand all pulls and strains both longitudinally andtransversely. In other words, it retains the integral solid character ofthe old uncut welt, and hence is capable of use for Goodyear work, andyet is without the stiffness and unmanageable character of said oldwelt. It is pliable and adaptable without being weak.

I regard the provision of a welt having an uncut or whole surface on oneside and at the outer edge and a series of transverse incisions on theopposite side shallower than the thickness of the welt and terminatingshort of the outer edge of the welt as of decided importance, especiallyin Goodyear-sewed shoes. This formation gives internal pliability andouter-edge resistance or strength, so that when the welt is turned down(after having been sewed to the vamp and inner sole) it is compelled togather in or pucker along the inner portion, thereby releasing andpreventing tension and strain on the stitches. Moreover, the uncut orwhole outer edge gives not only the strength to resist stretching and tocompel the easy relaxed condition above explained, but my welt provides,in connection with the extreme flexibility and pliability abovementioned, a smooth integral exposed surface. The uncut outer edge iscapable of receiving the samehigh degree of edge finishing as the oldstyle of welt and yet has the desired pliability and adaptability, whilethe smooth uncut top surface of the welt leaves all the leather forholding the stitches and maintains a solid level surface for thestitchseparating process, &e. It will be observed, however, that in theclaims various restrictions are made and others omitted, so thatalthough in the most complete embodiment of my invention I prefer toemploy the entire construction shown, yet for some purposes I may varyor omit certain featuresas, for instance, I do not limit myself(excepting in the particular claims so restricted) to having theslashing or cuts crescent-shaped nor to having them oblique or finlil;e,&c.

Various modifications and other en1bodiments of my Welt come Within theproper scope of the invention, as will be apparent from the followingclaims.

Having fully described my invention,what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. A welt, having a series of transverse cuts, oblique to the plane ofthe Welt, said cuts at their ends terminating short of the edges of theWelt and less in length than the width of the welt.

2. A welt for Goodyear-weltedshoes, one side thereof being whole and theopposite side being provided with a series of transverse cuts madewithout removing any of the leather, said cuts being shallower than thethickness of the welt, and terminating short of the edges of the welt.

3. A welt, having a series of transverse cuts, extending partiallythrough the welt obliquely to the plane of the welt and terminailing attheir ends short of the edges of the we t.

4. A welt, having a series of transverse crescent-shaped cuts, each lessin. length than the width of the welt and extending obliquely to theplane of the Welt, said cuts being shallow at their opposite ends, andthe opposite edges of the welt being whole 5. A welt, having integraledges, and containing a series of transverse cuts extending obliquely tothe plane of the welt and deepest intermediate their ends.

6. A welt, having integral edges, and containing a series of transversegrooves 8, and a plurality of oblique cuts interspersed between saidgrooves and terminating short of the edges of the welt.

In witness whereof I have signed my name to this specification m thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE E. ROLLINS.

Witnesses H. A. POOLE, SEWELL P. HOWARD.

